Our current president is ensuring that the foreign relations between Maldives and China remain tight.
According to our National Bureau of Statistics, in 2016 more than 1.2m tourists arrived in the Maldives. Among them, 575,176 tourists were from Europe. Furthermore, 572,336 of the tourists were from Asia and among them, China contributed 324,326 tourists to the new total. That is a 25.2 percentage share. The highest among the data.
So in conclusion: the tourism industry has China on it’s lead.
Let’s head to the housing & infrastructure:
704 housing units:
This is part of the 1,500 housing project undertaken by the Chinese government across different regions of Maldives. The development of 704 housing units in Hulhumalé has been awarded to CMEC. The project is implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure
Housing Development Corporation
The Beijing Urban Construction Group of China is building a new 3.2-kilometre runway, fuel farm and cargo complex for the airport. It also plans to construct a new modern passenger terminal.
Now let us address the elephant in the room. The China-Maldives Friendship Bridge.
According to Maldives Independent the bridge will cost around $210m. The project will be financed with $126m in grant aid along with $12.6m from the Maldivian state budget.
The rest is a debt we owe to China. We owe $192.4m.
So why is India worried?
The Indian Ocean has become a major pipeline for trade for China.
China: The Indian Ocean can’t be India’s backyard
This means that China’s presence in the Indian Ocean will increase and India will remain cautious about this.
China has been a key player in our country’s development and it is in my good interest to say that they’ve been good to us so far.
Full details are available at the link below:
